The service not only enables access to council services on the move, but also delivers a range of local information, maps, access to local and national transport information, search from leading Directory Enquiries company 118118, or even allows you to plan a night out with the latest pubs and clubs news and reviews.
MyNewham also enables communities to build their own networks, with Schools, voluntary organisations, and sports clubs all now being able to communicate with their own members.
The new site can be accessed by texting the word Newham to 65101, by typing mynewham.mobi directly into the telephone's internet browser or by typing in your mobile number at this link: mynewham.mobi - users then receive a text message back with a link to the service and instructions to follow.
Mayor of Newham, Sir Robin Wales, said: "This pioneering service provides a great opportunity to supply information in a personalised and convenient way. There's no excuse to not know what's happening in the borough."
"We believe this is a ground breaking approach for delivering a coherent mobile strategy for communicating with its citizens" said Ian Tomson-Smith of SNT Mobile, who project managed the delivery of the service. "By combining core council services with best of breed third party mobile service providers, we have delivered not only a useful service for citizens, but one they will continue to use. This provides a platform, upon which local authorities can reach out and deliver multiple mobile services and a model for authorities in London and throughout the UK in the future."
"This innovative approach of mobile delivery of services also provides an excellent model to drive adoption of mobile services and ensure the public's expectations are met."
Ian Henderson, TfL Director of Customer Services, said "We saw the Newham mobile initiative as an excellent opportunity to provide local transport information to commuters and also provide public transport information to users who had not previously discovered our services."
Guy Giles, Operations Director at DigiTV said: "We are delighted that this partnership will bring all the benefits of the interactive services we already enable government to offer through digital TV to the mobile screens of residents and consumers across Newham. The public sector has much to learn about the potential for service delivery via mobiles and Newham are leading the way. We look forward to working with many more local authorities across the UK who want to build on this experience."
